ESL and WESA are pleased to announce that the Season Eight Finals of the world’s longest running professional league for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) will return to Odense, Denmark. The sixteen best CS:GO teams from Europe, North America, South America and the Asia-Pacific region will battle it out for a lion’s share of the US $1 million prize pool once again at the Sparekassen Fyn Arena on December 7-9, 2018. Alongside the tournament the gaming expo ODINCON will be hosted for the second time in a row by the City of Odense in cooperation with ESL.

For the very first time, the group stages of the CS:GO Pro League Finals will be played out in front of a live audience, kicking off on December 4-6. Only the best teams will proceed to the playoffs, getting the chance to win the coveted title as well as another point towards the Intel® Grand Slam, where a US $1 million bonus prize is up for grabs. In addition to the CS:GO tournament, fans will be able to explore the gaming expo ODINCON featuring over 10,000 square meters of exhibition space and a variety of side activities including LAN tournaments, partner giveaways and signing sessions with pro players.

“We are looking forward to bringing the Pro League Finals back to Denmark after such a great success of the Season Six Finals in Odense,” said Ulrich Schulze, Senior Vice President of Product at ESL. “The Danish crowd has proven their passion for CS:GO as thousands of fans were cheering for their favorite teams in a sold out Sparekassen Fyn Arena. We already knew back then that we want to come back for more.”

"With so many talented teams competing from around the globe, we look forward to seeing how this exciting season of premier CS:GO plays out and eagerly await the Finals," said Ken Hershman, Commissioner and Executive Chairman, WESA. “Odense has been such an important part of Pro League, and we are proud to have the opportunity to work so closely with the city.”

“We have decided in Odense that we will be great in esports. We want this because it's a fast-growing sport with a target audience that is very interesting for our technology clusters. So, while ODINCON and Pro League creates a big party, we get technology-interested esport fans to meet with Odense's companies in the field of robotics, drones and IT with the purpose of recruiting skilled workers," says Mayor of Odense, Peter Rahbæk Juel.

In 2017 the Season Six Finals of the CS:GO Pro League in Odense saw some record-breaking viewership numbers with a 95% growth in concurrent online viewers compared to the Season Five Finals, which were held in Dallas. More than four million hours of content have been consumed through 27 live streams in 18 languages and eight linear TV broadcasts. In addition, the Season Six Finals in Odense entered the history books as the fastest selling CS:GO Pro League Finals since its inception.

Ticket sales for the CS:GO Pro League Finals in Odense, Denmark start on Thursday, June 7 at 3pm CEST and will range in price from 39DKK up to 169DKK. Fans who attended the Pro League Finals in Odense last year will get the chance to secure their tickets already tomorrow, June 5 at 3pm CEST. Further information on each of the available ticket types can be found here. Fans can check out the gaming expo ODINCON for free this year.

Season Eight of the CS:GO Pro League will return on October 2, 2018 with the matches being broadcasted every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday with English and Portuguese being available exclusively on Facebook. For more information about the upcoming seasons, please visit the official website and follow ESL CS on Twitter and Facebook.